Friday, December 30, 2011

I have a real passion for creating and really enjoy making jewelry. I find it relaxing when I'm creating some new design of wearable art!

A few years ago I made myself a watch bracelet. I choose this antique style watch face, sterling silver bali beads and then for a twist, I used beads that had the same effect as the old mood rings did years ago...(ya all remember those?) When I wore my watch to work, I had lots of comments on it from my co-workers, and a couple of them wanted me to make one for them. So... I set out to make a few watch bracelets, hoping to design something that they might like.

This was a little scary... not knowing if I could capture their style and personality in one of my creations! It is truly easier creating for ones self!

Wow... I guess I was being put to the test a bit!Usually we all just go buy what we like, not to many times are we having something custom made for ourselves!

Here are some pictures of the watch that I made... that inspired all these watches below. I wear it so much and have had it for several years, that it is getting a little worn around the metal on the mood beads. I do have more of of these beads, so I might need to take it apart and redo it, because the bali beads are sterling silver and will last for ever!

Here is the color progression of the mood beads.

It was really hard to capture the true color changing. For the picture... I started with the watch being really cold... I put it in the fridge and and as the beads warmed up I took these pictures. I'm sad to say I couldn't get the true essence of the color changes, but enough to show that it changes from brown, amber, yellow green, green, blue green, blue, gray, and purple. What is so neat about these beads as they all change a different intervals, they don't change at the same time.

This was my first commissioned piece... Jill a co-worker of mine, commissioned me to make a watch for a real good friend of hers while I was living there in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The watch was a birthday gift for her friend. In my mind I'm thinking...WOW! This one is going to be hard, I don't her at all! So... after asking Jill several questions about her friend what she could tell me about her likes and dislikes, what her favorite colors and metal preferences were, I started gathering up everything that I needed for this project. The next thing I needed was her friends wrist size and if she like bracelets (loose fitting dangles) or a real watch fit (snug) to the wrist. Boy... that was going to be hard for Jill to gather this information since this was going to be a gift, but this was the most important part of the process, because everybody has a different wrist size.

This Bracelet Watch turned out so nice, I didn't want to part with it when I finished it. It fit me perfectly on my wrist also!

Jill loved it! She was so pleased at how nice it came out, that she paid me $10 over the price that I had originally quoted her. This made me feel good that I hit the mark, she knew her friend better than me. Jill also came back and let me know her friend really love the watch and she was so ecstatic about her gift, then Jill asked me to make another watch for her sister inlaw for the coming Christmas.

So we went through the same process with this watch. Now... the only difference is this watch would have a theme, an emphasis on Fleur-de-lis, with just a little french flair!

Again... after I finished this watch I really wanted to keep it also. Lucky for me I have enough of these fleur-de-lis findings that I can make one for me!

Amanda another co-worker about month later asked me if I was ready to make her a watch. When I asked her if she had any ideas what she wanted her watch to look like, since she had seen both of Jill's watches. She shared "I don't know... just make me one, whatever you make will be great." Again, Wow... such a vote of confidence! I really felt under the gun to turn out something special.

The next day, I brought in something that I had been working on for awhile to see if she like it. If she did I would move towards creating something out of the jumprings that I had made from scratch. I had been practicing making jumprings, because I was going to make a chain maile rope necklace for myself. She like it... so we are moving ahead with some ideas.

Amanda's mom liked her watch so much she wanted to keep it... so Amanda had me make another one just like hers with a different color crystal. Then we dicided to do a gold tone watch instead of silver one for her mom's birthday.

This one below... I made for my daughter inlaw Stephanie. This is another one that I really liked and wanted to keep for myself. The gift is in the giving... almost everything I make I give away to someone.

A dear friend of mine... Onyema, wanted me to make a her a couple of watches. She wanted them to fit snug like a watch normally would fit.

Before I moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I had alot of watches, neckace and other things in my Etsy store. During our move I put eall my listings in inactive status, because everything was in boxes and in a storage unit for several months. Well... now that were settled in to our home, I guess I need to be busy and relist everything in my store www.purplesageoriginals.etsy.com .

Come visit from time to time, I'm always adding something new. I will be putting some of these items below in tmy shop soon.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I acquired this recipe while I was working at the Baton Rouge General Medical Center inthe Inpatient Pharmacy Department.

This is truly outstanding!!!

I thought that I had a pretty good recipe, but this one tops mine! I'll never be the same again. Wendy thanks so much for sharing your family recipe with us at our Thanksgiving feast that we had at work... Thanksgiving 2009.

But don't just take my word for it that it is delicious... here is the proof!

Well... it was a hit and every year since... the requests have been... “Are you making your Sweet Potato Casserole?” Try it and see for yourself... it will be gone!

Here we go... my niece Holly is an up and coming Photographer and she had taken pictures from our holiday dinner and I didn't know that she took pictures of the food until she sent pictures to me... so I had to add this picture!

Grand Passages of Music (Memories of Times Gone By)

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About Me

I was born and raised in Montana. I grew up loving nature, animals, quilting, arts and crafts. I really enjoy, the creative side of things. I guess that’s why my love for crafts has never disappeared only evolved over the years. I enjoy decorating and being inspired by magazines and books. I married my childhood sweetheart and we moved to the California Bay Area, where we lived for many years and raised our family. Then we traveled some and now we are living here in Southern California, where we will stay and enjoy our granddaughter. I was one that stayed home and raised my family, taking in a few extra children to help financially, then after raising my family worked as a Pharmacy Tech for many more years. Now... really just enjoying my grand daughter in her early years. My husband and I are care takers of a small horse ranch here in SoCal.
La Bonne Vie!